Outer wear

ABSTRACT

There is provided an outer wear including a hood for covering the head of a wearer and a front fastener splitting a front garment body into right and left parts. The outer wear has an opening and enlarging structure for extending an entire circumferential length of an opening formed by the hood. The opening and enlarging structure includes an opening and enlarging fastener separating a textile of the outer wear toward the opening and an opening and enlarging piece functioning as a gore by expanding a part separated by the opening and enlarging fastener inside the opening and enlarging fastener. A vicinity of a neck opening of the front garment body and the opening and enlarging piece are bent and formed so as to project toward a side of a body of the wearer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese Patent Application Ser. No. 2013-272066 (filed on Dec. 27,2013), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hooded outer wear for a person whodoes an outdoor activity, such as a fisherman, an alpinist, a hiker, ora cyclist.

BACKGROUND

Some pants as rain gear (so-called “rain pants” or “rain trousers”) havean opening and enlarging structure provided in the vicinities of bottomopenings such that opening dimensions of the bottom openings can beenlarged. In the opening and enlarging structure, fasteners capable ofexpanding opening dimensions by splitting the vicinities of the bottomsare provided. It is possible to enlarge the opening dimensions of thebottom openings by opening the fasteners and to thereby wear or take offthe rain gear provided with the opening and enlarging structure withouttaking off shoes, for example.

Since a material for rain gear, for example, with a waterproofingproperty seals moisture transpired from the body therein, a wearer feelsstuffiness. There is also an outer wear with a ventilation structureprovided under the arms, on the back, or the like in order to reducestuffiness and ensure the waterproofing property.

The ventilation structure is a structure in which a window for causing aspace on the side of the body of wearer to communicate with external airby cutting continuity of a textile configuring the wear is formed.

A textile with a high windbreaking performance for an outer wear usedfor outdoor sports or the like, such as a textile used for protectionagainst cold or a windbreaker which also functions as rain gear, has apoor stretching property. Therefore, a front fastener is moved up anddown near a collar when a hood is put on or taken off. If the frontfastener is moved down, a side of the body of the wearer communicateswith external air near the collar. As a result, warm air retained in thespace between the outer wear and the body of the wearer is replaced withthe external air. That is, the wearer feels cold when putting on ortaking off the hood.

In order to solve such a problem, an outer wear with a tuck provided ina longitudinal direction at a part of a clothing material facing anopening at the neck part has been provided. As such an outer wearprovided with a tuck, there is a technique disclosed in JapaneseUnexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-161406. That is, thetechnique relates to “tucked cloth” which employs a form capable ofeasily discharging rain water retained at a tucked part.

SUMMARY

In to an outer wear for outdoor activities, which is not provided with atuck at an opening at the neck part and is formed by a textile with apoor stretching property, a front fastener is moved up and down near theneck when a hood is put on or taken off. However, the feeling ofcoldness is not thought to be uncomfortable and is considered to benothing special.

The “tuck” in the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication Publication No. 2002-161406 results in a decrease in afeeling of close contact with the wearer. The outer wear is deformedwhen strong wind blows on the front side thereof, and warm air retainedin the space between the outer wear and the body of the wearer isreplaced with external air.

An object of the present invention is to provide an outer wear foroutdoor activities, which facilitates hood attaching and detachingoperations and provides an enhanced feeling of close contact when thehood is put on.

FIRST INVENTION

The first invention relates to an outer wear (10) provided with a hood(11) for covering the head of a wearer and a front fastener (13) whichsplits a front garment body into right and left parts.

The outer wear has an opening and enlarging structure (20) for extendingthe entire length of a circumference of an opening (12) formed by thehood (11), and the opening and enlarging structure (20) includes anopening and enlarging fastener (21) for separating a textile of the coat(10) toward the opening (12) and an opening and enlarging piece (23)functioning as a gore by expanding the part separated by the opening andenlarging fastener (21) inside the opening and enlarging fastener (21).

Description of Terms

The “opening (12)” functions as a neck opening when the wearer of theouter wear (10) does not put on the hood.

One end of the “opening and enlarging fastener (21)” always reaches theopening (12). The other end of the “opening and enlarging fastener (21)”may be positioned at the front garment body in some cases and may bepositioned at the hood (11) in other cases.

The “opening and enlarging piece (23)” is generally formed into anisosceles triangle with a bottom on the side of the opening (12) underconditions such as easy fabrication. However, the opening and enlargingpiece (23) may have a shape obtained by deforming the isosceles triangleas a base in accordance with an intended shape of the opened andenlarged opening (12) (see FIGS. 9 a to 9 c).

The “front fastener (13)” is not limited to a configuration ofcompletely splitting the front garment body into the right and the leftparts. For example, the invention may be applied to a type of outer wearin which the lower end of the front fastener is positioned in thevicinity of the chest of the wearer (referred to as a “hooded jacket”).

Although the “front fastener (13)” is generally configured tosymmetrically split the front garment body into the right and leftparts, some outer wears are designed by causing the front fastener (13)to deviate to either a right or a left side. The invention is intendedto include both cases.

(Operations)

When the wearer of the outer wear (10) according to the presentinvention tries to put on and take off the hood (12), opening andclosing of the opening and enlarging fastener (21) which is providedseparately from the front fastener (13) does not cause the body side ofwearer to communicate with external air due to presence of the openingand enlarging piece (23). Therefore, the windbreaking performance of theouter wear (10) does not significantly deteriorate.

The wearer of the outer wear (10) according to the present invention caneasily put on and take off the hood (12) even when the person wears ascarf, a neck warmer, or the like under the outer wear (10).

(Variation 1 of First Invention)

It is more preferable to form the first invention as follows.

That is, a slider (opening and enlarging slider 22) of theaforementioned opening and enlarging fastener (21) is formed to besmaller than a slider (front slider 14) of the aforementioned frontfastener (13).

(Operations)

When the wearer of the outer wear (10) according to the presentinvention tries to put on and take off the hood (12), the person cannotvisually recognize both the slider (22) of the opening and enlargingfastener (21) and the slider (14) of the front fastener (13). Therefore,the person performs the operation by feel. However, since the twosliders have different sizes, the person can know which one of the twosliders is to be operated by feel

(Variation 2 of First Invention)

It is preferable that the opening and enlarging fastener (21) accordingto the first invention be a waterproofing fastener.

This is because there is a concern that rain water is retained in a gapbetween the opening and enlarging fastener (21) and the opening andenlarging piece (23) or rain water penetrates to the side of the body ofthe wearer if the waterproofing fastener is not employed.

(Variation 3 of First Invention)

When the end of the opening and enlarging piece (23) on the side of theopening (12) is positioned at the neck opening of the front garment bodyin the first invention, it is more preferable that the opening andenlarging piece (23) be formed so as to be bent along a curve from thechest to the chin via the throat of the wearer.

(Operations)

When the wearer of the outer wear according to the first invention putson the hood (11), a part of the hood (11) which is brought into contactwith the chin of the wearer is located at a position further from thefront garment body than a part of the front garment body near the chest.That is, it is possible to enhance a degree of close contact with thewearer by the shape bent along the side of the body of the wearer.

(Variation 4 of First Invention)

It is preferable to form the first invention as follows.

That is, the aforementioned opening and enlarging structure (20) ispositioned at one of or both the right and left parts from the frontfastener (13), and an end of the opening and enlarging fastener (21) onthe side opposite to the opening (12) is formed at a position closer tothe side of the opening (12) than a switchover line (16) of the frontgarment body.

Description of Terms

The “switchover line” represents a line connecting parts under the armson both sides when the outer wear is sewn. The “switchover line” is alsoreferred to as a “joint line”. An outer wear is formed by stitchingtextiles divided at the switchover line as a boundary in many cases.

It is desirable to cause “the end of the opening and enlarging fastener(21) on the side opposite to the opening (12)” to approach theswitchover line (16) (extend the length of the opening and enlargingfastener (21)). This is because it is possible to finely adjust theopening and the enlarging as the length of the opening and enlargingfastener (21) increases, on the assumption that the dimension of theopening and enlarging piece (23) on the side of the opening (12) is thesame.

If the opening and enlarging fastener (21) is arranged so as to be inparallel with the front fastener (13), a subdued design is achieved, aswill be described later in embodiments. However, the present inventionis not limited to the case where the opening and enlarging fastener (21)is in parallel with the front fastener (13), and the shape of theopening and enlarging fastener (21) is not limited to a straight line(see FIGS. 5 and 6).

(Variation 5 of First Invention)

It is more preferable to form Variation 4 of the first invention asfollows.

That is, when a hood adjuster (15) for adjusting the size of the openingof the aforementioned hood (11) is provided on the collar side, the endof the opening and enlarging fastener (21) in the aforementioned openingand enlarging structure (20) is formed so as to be positioned betweenthe hood adjuster (15) and the front fastener (13).

The “hood adjuster” is a part at which a string is drawn out of the hood(11) in order to allow the wearer to adjust the opening dimension bytightening or loosening the string penetrating through a tunnel of atunnel structure provided along an edge on the side of the hood openingso as to adjust the opening dimension of the hood (11).

The hood adjuster (15) for adjusting the size of the opening of the hood(11) is provided on the collar side in some cases and is provided nearthe head or the ears of the wearer when the person puts on the hood (11)(see FIGS. 7 and 8).

(Operations)

The wearer of the outer wear (10) according to the present invention caneasily operate the front fastener (13) in relation to putting on andtaking off of the outer wear, the hood adjuster (15) for adjusting thesize of the opening of the hood (11), and the opening and enlargingfastener (21) which is operated for putting on and taking off the hood(11) since all the parts are adjacently arranged.

In addition, the arrangement of the opening and enlarging structure (20)including the opening and enlarging fastener (21) provides a subdueddesign regardless of whether the opening and enlarging fastener (21) isopen or closed

According to the first invention, it is possible to provide an outerwear for outdoor activities which facilitates hood attaching anddetaching operations and provides an enhanced feeling of close contactwhen the hood is attached

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 a to 1 c are perspective views showing a state where a hood ofan outer wear according to a first embodiment is put on and taken off.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the outer wear according to the firstembodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing main parts of the outer wearaccording to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state where an opening and enlargingfastener of the outer wear according to the first embodiment is closed.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an outer wear according to another embodimentin which the shape of the opening and enlarging fastener is different.

FIG. 6 is a front view of an outer wear according to another embodimentin which the shape of the opening and enlarging fastener is different.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where an opening andenlarging faster of an outer wear according to another embodiment, inwhich the position of the opening and enlarging fastener is different,is closed.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state where an opening andenlarging fastener of an outer wear according to another embodiment, inwhich the position of the opening and enlarging fastener is different,is closed.

FIGS. 9 a to 9 c are planar views showing variations in an opening andenlarging piece used for the opening and enlarging structure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a description will be given of an embodiment of the presentinvention with reference to the drawings. The drawings include FIGS. 1 ato 9 c, which illustrate a waterproofing wear with a windbreakingperformance for implementing the present invention.

An outer wear 10 with a windbreaking performance according to thisembodiment may be selected and used for situations with strong wind,such as bass fishing. Clothing with an excellent windbreakingperformance and an excellent waterproofing property may be used in orderto protect a body from strong wind since it is necessary to board a boatcapable of traveling at a high speed for bass fishing.

As an external textile of the outer wear 10 with the windbreakingperformance, a material which does not allow wind to penetratetherethrough and has resistance to wind, rain, and spray may beemployed. The textile may have a poor stretching property.

A hood 11 for covering the head may be integrally formed with the outerwear 10. In addition, an opening 12 of the hood 11 may be designed so asto be narrower than those of outdoor clothing used for other purposes.This is because it is necessary to avoid wind and rain which strike thefront side while traveling at a high speed, and especially, it isnecessary to prevent wind from blowing into a gap between an edge of thehood opening and the face of a wearer.

Since the opening 12 of the hood 11 is narrow, it may be difficult forthe wearer to perform operations of putting on and taking off the hood11 as is. In the related art, a bass fisherman slightly moves down thefront fastener 13, completes the operation of putting on or taking offthe hood 11, and then moves up the front fastener 13 for putting on ortaking off the hood 11.

However, since a part up to which the front fastener 13 is moved down isopen if the front fastener 13 is slightly opened, wind and rain from thefront side may blow into the outer wear 10 with the wind breakperformance. The opening and enlarging structure 20 may be provided inorder to smoothly perform such operations.

As shown in FIG. 3, the opening and enlarging structure 20 may includean opening and enlarging fastener 21 for separating the textile of theouter wear 10 toward the opening 12, an opening and enlarging piece 23which forms a gore by expanding the part separated by the opening andenlarging faster 21 inside the opening and enlarging faster 21, and anopening and enlarging slider 22 for opening and closing the opening andenlarging fastener 21.

The opening and enlarging piece 23 may have an isosceles triangularshape with a bottom on the side of the opening 12, and is referred to asa “triangular gore”. The length of the bottom may be 5 cm in thisembodiment. The opening and enlarging piece 23 with a bottom size from 3cm to 7 cm can be easily used and provide a subdued design although itdepends on the size of the outer wear 10.

As the front fastener 13 and the opening and enlarging fastener 21,waterproofing fasteners may be employed. This is for protecting thewearer from wind and rain.

Retention of rain water at the gap between the opening and enlargingfastener 21 and the opening and enlarging piece 23 and penetration ofrain water into the side of the body of the wearer are suppressed byemploying the waterproofing fastener as the opening and enlargingfastener 21.

In this embodiment, the front fastener 13 and the opening and enlargingfastener 21 may be arranged so as to be in parallel with each other.However, the present invention is not limited to the parallelarrangement, and for example, the opening and enlarging fastener 21 maybe arranged at an angle in which the lower end thereof approaches thefront fastener 13.

As the opening and enlarging slider 22, a slider which is smaller thanthe front slider 14 of the front fastener 13 may be employed.Specifically, No. 3 of fastener standards is used as the front slider14, and No. 5 is used for the opening and enlarging slider 22.

The vicinity of the neck opening in the front garment body of the outerwear 10 and the opening and enlarging piece 23 may be bent and formed soas to project toward the side of the body of the wearer (see FIG. 1 b).By employing the shape bent so as to project toward the side of the bodyof the wearer, the degree of close contact with the wearer is enhanced.

According to this embodiment, the opening and enlarging structure 20 maybe positioned on the left side of the front fastener 13 (the left sidewhen viewed as the wearer, and the right side in FIG. 3), and the end ofthe opening and enlarging fastener 21 on the side opposite to theopening 12 may be positioned on a side slightly higher than and slightlyfurther toward the opening 12 than the switchover line 16 of the frontgarment body. As a result, the length of the opening and enlargingfastener 21 may be 25 cm in this embodiment. The opening and enlargingfastener 21 with the size from 22 cm to 28 cm can be easily usedalthough it depends on the size of the outer wear 10.

In addition, the reason that the opening and enlarging fastener 21 ispositioned on the left side of the front fastener 13 on the assumptionof a state where the wearer wears the outer wear 10 is that the wearercan easily operate the opening and enlarging fastener 21 with his or herright hand. In other words, it is difficult to operate the opening andenlarging fastener 21 with a hand on the side on which the opening andenlarging fastener 21 is positioned because the textile of the outerwear 10 moves.

If the length of the opening and enlarging fastener 21 is less than 20cm when the size of the outer wear 10 is small, it becomes difficult tomanufacture the opening and enlarging piece 23 corresponding to thevicinity of the neck opening and to operate the opening and enlargingfastener 21 since the vicinity of the neck opening of the front garmentbody of the outer wear 10 is bent. In contrast, it is difficult to formthe opening and enlarging fastener 21 with a dimension extendingdownward over the switchover line 16 (a dimension which exceeds 30 cmfor an LL-size outer wear although it depends on the size of the outerwear 10) in terms of sewing of the outer wear 10.

According to this embodiment, the hood adjuster 15 for adjusting thesize of the opening of the hood 11 may be provided on the collar side.In addition, the end of the opening and enlarging fastener 21 may bepositioned between the hood adjuster 15 and the front fastener 13.

When the wearer of the outer wear 10 according to this embodiment triesto put on or take off the hood 11 as shown in FIG. 1, opening andclosing of the opening and enlarging fastener 21 provided separatelyfrom the front fastener 13 does not allow the side of the body of thewearer to communicate with external air since the opening and enlargingpiece 23 is present (see FIG. 1 b and 1 c). Therefore, the windbreakingperformance and the waterproofing performance of the outer wear 10 donot significantly deteriorate.

Significance of existence of the opening and enlarging structure 20 forputting on and taking off the hood 11 is especially high when the weareradditionally wears a scarf or a neck warmer around his or her neckinside the outer wear 10 according to this embodiment.

The wearer of the outer wear 10 according to this embodiment operatesthe opening and enlarging slider 22 and the front slider 14 by feel forputting on or taking off the hood 11 since the wearer cannot visuallyrecognize both the opening and enlarging slider 22 and the front slider14. However, since the two sliders have different sizes, it is possibleto know which one of the two sliders is to be operated by feel.

The wearer of the outer wear 10 according to this embodiment can easilyoperate the front fastener 13 in relation to putting on and taking offof the outer wear, the hood adjuster 15 for adjusting the size of theopening of the hood 11, and the opening and enlarging fastener 21 whichis operated for putting on and taking off the hood 11 since all theparts are adjacently arranged.

In addition, the arrangement of the opening and enlarging structure 20including the opening and enlarging fastener 21 provides a subdueddesign regardless of whether the opening and enlarging fastener 21 isopen or closed, as shown in FIG. 2.

With reference to FIGS. 5 to 8, variations of the opening and enlargingfastener will be described.

FIG. 5 shows a variation which employs an opening and enlarging fastener21A which is further distant from the front fastener 13 at a positionfurther from the opening 12.

The opening and enlarging fastener 21A as described above has acharacteristic in that the opening and enlarging fastener 21A can beeasily opened and closed even if the wearer puts on a scarf, a neckwarmer, or the like under the outer wear 10.

FIG. 6 also shows a variation in relation to the attachment position ofthe opening and enlarging fastener. That is, the opening and enlargingfastener 21B may be distant from the front fastener 13 at a positioncloser to the opening 12. In contrast, the opening and enlargingfastener 21B may be in parallel with the front fastener 13 at a positionfar from the opening 12.

Although the outer wear 10 tends to be designed by placing importance onfunctions, the attachment position of the opening and enlarging fastenercan be an accent in the design.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show an embodiment in which the opening and enlargingstructure 20 (opening and enlarging fastener 21B) is provided on theside of the hood 11 unlike in the first embodiment in which thearrangement thereof is near the collar. Although there is a possibilitythat the opening and enlarging fastener 21 is mistakenly considered as afastener for an accommodation pocket when the opening and enlargingstructure 20 is arranged as in the first embodiment, suchmisunderstanding and improper use do not occur in the embodiment shownin FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIGS. 9 a to 9 c are planar views showing variations of the opening andenlarging piece used in the opening and enlarging structure.

The opening and enlarging piece 23A shown in FIG. 9 a forms a triangulargore with an isosceles triangular shape with a bottom on the side of theopening. That is, the opening and enlarging piece 23A is configured of23 a positioned on the side of the opening and of 23 b and 23 b, each ofwhich has one end corresponding to an end of 23 a and the other endcorresponding to a vertex.

The opening and enlarging piece 23B shown in FIG. 9 b has a symmetricalshape in the horizontal direction. 23 d and 23 d which are directed froma vertex facing 23 c positioned on the side of the opening to both endsof 23 c continue to 23 e and 23 e forming arc shapes in the vicinity of23 c and reach both of the ends of 23 c.

It is assumed that the opening and enlarging piece 23B shown in FIG. 9 bis manufactured such that the distances of 23 d and 23 d from the vertexto 23 c and angles of 23 d and 23 d are the same as those of the openingand enlarging piece 23A. If an outer wear employing the opening andenlarging piece 23A is compared with an outer wear employing the openingand enlarging piece 23B, the entire circumferential length of theopening of the outer wear employing the opening and enlarging piece 23Bis longer by a length corresponding to a difference between 23 c and 23a. As a result, the outer wear employing the opening and enlarging piece23B can maintain a close contact property and facilitate putting on andtaking off of the hood.

The opening and enlarging piece 23C shown in FIG. 9 c has a symmetricalshape in the horizontal direction. That is, 23 f is longer than 23 g. Anattachment position and an attachment direction of the opening andenlarging fastener contribute to smooth motion of the opening andenlarging fastener.

The present invention is applicable in the field of manufacturingoutdoor goods and clothes, the field of leasing outdoor goods andclothes, instructor businesses of outdoor sports, and the like.

What is claimed is:
 1. An outer wear comprising: a hood covering a headof a wearer; a front fastener splitting a front garment body into rightand left parts; and an opening and enlarging structure for extending anentire circumferential length of an opening formed by the hood, whereinthe opening and enlarging structure includes an opening and enlargingfastener separating a textile of the outer wear toward the opening, andan opening and enlarging piece forming a gore by expanding a partseparated by the opening and enlarging fastener inside the opening andenlarging fastener.
 2. The outer wear according to claim 1, wherein aslider of the opening and enlarging fastener is formed to be smallerthan a slider of the front fastener.
 3. The outer wear according toclaim 1, wherein when an end of the opening and enlarging piece on aside of the opening is positioned at a neck opening of the front garmentbody, the opening and enlarging piece is bent along a curve from thechest to the chin via the throat of the wearer.
 4. The outer wearaccording to claim 1, wherein the opening and enlarging structure ispositioned on one of or both right and left sides of the front fastener,and an end of the opening and enlarging fastener on a side opposite tothe opening is formed at a position closer to the side of the openingthan a switchover line in the front garment body.
 5. The outer wearaccording to claim 4, wherein when a hood adjuster for adjusting a sizeof the opening of the hood is provided on a side of a collar, an end ofthe opening and enlarging fastener in the opening and enlargingstructure is positioned between the hood adjuster and the frontfastener.